GOP blasts Cuomo’s comments on conservatives
Andrew Cuomo
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Trump, who says he’ll decide about entering the governor’s race next month, called the comments “a terrible statement, an unfortunate statement.”
“It’s hard to believe that he really believes that,’’ continued Trump, when reached for comment by The Post at his home in Palm Beach, Fla.
Westchester County Executive Astorino, who has also promised an announcement next month on whether he’ll run for governor, called Cuomo’s comments “just the kind of intolerance that is directly opposite to what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached.”
“New York already leads the nation in chasing away its own citizens because of extraordinary high taxes, so does Cuomo really want to bully millions more away?’’ Astorino said.
“New York’s greatness comes from accepting people of differing points of view. What Andrew Cuomo has revealed by these statements is his true self, because we see just how angry and radical his views are.’’
Cuomo walked back the comments in an open letter to the editor of the New York Post on Sunday, claiming that his words were “distorted” in a story that appeared in Saturday’s paper.
“It is clear that the governor was making the observation that an extreme right candidate cannot win statewide because this is a politically moderate state (either moderate Republican or moderate Democratic),” the letter said.
“In the same response [during the radio interview], the governor went on to say ‘it is fine’ to be anti-gun control, and anti-choice — as he respects both positions.”
Still, state GOP Chairman Ed Cox plans to publicly urge Cuomo to apologize for his comments.
“I will call on Gov. Cuomo to apologize to all New Yorkers for poisoning New York’s politics with divisive rhetoric at a time when New York needs to be united to address its continuing economic problems,’’ Cox said.
Cuomo made his breathtaking remarks during a radio interview Friday as he discussed the widening Republican rift between moderates, whose support he’s seeking in his re-election campaign, and conservatives, whom he characterized as anti-abortion, anti-gay rights and pro-traditional gun ownership.
“Who are they?” asked Cuomo of the Republicans.
“Are they these extreme conservatives, who are right to life, pro-assault weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that is who they are and if they are extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York.’’
No New York governor has ever suggested that citizens who oppose abortion and gay rights and favor long-standing gun-ownership rights are “extreme conservatives’’ and somehow unfit for New York.
Cuomo has been aggressively seeking to win endorsements of moderate Republicans from Long Island and Westchester districts with heavily Democratic electorates. Last week, Cox, in an unprecedented and seemingly desperate move, made public a letter to unnamed Republican officials urging them not to back Cuomo.
Cuomo has already been endorsed by former US Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, now a lobbyist with business before state government, and is hoping to win the endorsements of other Nassau County officials, including Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos, who is widely seen as a Cuomo political ally.
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Yates County GOP Chairwoman Sandy King will urge support for a “Trump for governor/Astorino for lieutenant governor’’ unity ticket at a specially called meeting of all 62 county leaders in Albany Wednesday.
But the call is unlikely to receive more than a handful of backers because GOP honchos, led by Cox, are deeply skeptical about Trump’s willingness to make a run.
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Democratic insiders say a key reason Cuomo is seeking Republican “moderate’’ support is the erosion of support from his own Democratic Party’s “progressive’’ or left wing, with his estrangement from Mayor Bill de Blasio being the best example.
Cuomo has also been clashing for months with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman — as outlined most recently in a New York Times story last week — as well as state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the insiders say.
“Cuomo is trying to backfill his Democratic loses with Republicans from Long Island and the suburbs,’’ was how a leading Democratic strategist put it.
Cuomo is also on the outs with the leaders of the state’s influential Black and Puerto Rican legislative caucus — who opposed his proposed election-year tax cuts — as well as many of the state’s most powerful public-sector unions. “What struck me most in Albany is that people no longer seem to be afraid of the governor, as they once were,’’ said an influential Democrat.
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